Method of disintegrating and lading hard pitch or the like material.



C. STILL.

METHOD OF DISINTEGRATING AND LADING HARD PITCH OR THE LIKE MATERIAL.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 22, I915.

Patented Apr. 3. 1917.

e1:- STILL, 0F REC t1: urem a- GERMY.

trace on nrsrn'rnenarrne AND we Specification of Letters Patent.

D PITCH OR THE MATERIAL.

Patented Apr. 3, lhl'l'.

Application mar st amer 2e, mt. Serial to. 52,102.

To all wlwm it may t 1 Be it known that l, CARL STILL, subject of the King of Prussia, German Empire, residing at ltecklinghausen, Westphalia, Germany, have invented a certain new and useful Method of Disintegrating and Lading Hard Pitch or the like Material, of which thefollowing is a specification.

The obj set of the method forming the subject matter of the present invention is to ,es-. sentially simplify and cheapen the work of disintegrating and hiding so called hard pitch or any similar materialwhich has in the usual manner. been run into large, open cooling pans or walled pit: and has set therein. Y Heretofore this work has had to be performed solely by hand, the set pitch or like -material being chopped up by hand into 'pieces, whereupon the thus disintegrated mass was laden into the transport trucks directly from the pan. This method not only entails considerable cost, but also has an injurious edect on the health of the workers, so that it is frequently difiicult to find the necessary number of hands.

By the method according to the present invention these disadvantages inherent in the procedure heretofore employed are completely obviated and'the work of disintegrating and lading the set pitch or like material is performed by mechanical means in a most simple and rapid manner. The material which has set in the container is disintegrated as follows: Before running the material into the container a chain of sufficient length is laid along the bottom of the container in such manner that one end of the said chain projects'from the container at the point .at which it is to be emptied. After the material has se'tthis end is coupled with and the chain is torn out by mechanical means, whereby the mt layer of material is broken into a'plurality of pieces. The stock of broken up material thus obtained is then ushed by scrapers which have preferably een placed in the container, transversely to thedirection in which the contents of the latter are to be removed,-before the pitcher lilre material is run into the container, the said scrapers being subsequently embedded in the material and flimoved by mechanical means toward the an -name opening, whence the material may he, laden directly into cars for further transportation." e

The method shall now he more articularlv to m d being all the accompanying drawing in which a plant adapted for carryingout the present method is exemplified. In this drawing Figurel'is a vertical longitudinal section through a pitch container and a part of the cooling shed. Fig. 2 is a plan of F i 1.

a The cooling container p 0 an oblong rectangular shape supported on transverse beams t and-longitudinal beams a is arranged in the usual manner so that one endq is removable and may be looselyinserted in slotguides provided in the stationary longitudinal walls of the container This has the object of allowing of removing the contents of the container at this one end. At this end of the container a chute r is fitted. At a suitable distance from the end of the container closable by the removable wall 9, is journa ed a shaft 11:, running in bearings e fitted to the extended ends of the longitudinal beams s. This shaft may be driven by a motor m and a gearing g, or like means. Un the said shaft to are fitted two narrow drums c and between these a long drum d extending across the whole breadth of the contalner 10. Before the container is filled with pitch and is for the said purpose closed by inserting the removable wall 9 a link-chain k of a suflicient length is laid along the bottom of thecontainer with its one end hanging out at the removable wall q. The chain is preferably laid in a meandering or serpentine line, so that practically the whole area of the bottom of the container is covered by it. Furthermore one or several partitions a which are arranged in a manner similar to that of|the removable wall g and extend almost across the whole breadth of the container are inserted into the container parallel to the really, so that after the pitch has been run into thecontainer and the lat ter has setto a rigid layer a the said partitions a as well as the chain It are completely 1WD itch has been embedded-in the pitch. The said partitions may also be inserted after the broken up into pieces. After the pitch. or like material has cooled 'suflic'iently so that .it-has thoroughly set the end wall 9 is first embedded into a large number of piec net forming a heap of broken pitch ready for shipment. For facilitating the removal of the broken pieces from the container and the discharge of the same into the transport means the partitions a which were either embedded in the pitch or subsequently inserted are, after the chain 70 has been completely torn out, utilized as scrapers in such a manner, that they are drawn along the bottom of the container 32 by means of two ropes 6 attached to them and winding on the drums c on shaft w, so that they will advance the contents of the container in front of them and direct the same down the chute '1" into the trucks 0 run beneath the latter. By such means the whole of the pitch which initially consisted of one large solid body will within the shortest time be prepared for shipment.

The advantages of the hereinbefore described method are obvious. The tedious and unhealthful work of disintegrating the pitch by hand is performed within the shortest possible time by purely mechanical means without any special attendance being required, and at the same time by this arrangement the lading of the whole disintegrated mass is effected without any manual labor. Furthermore by the treatment hereinbefore described the pitch is obtained in the greater part in large pieces and without a large admixture of small granular parts reduced when the as would necessarily be pitch is treated with a pick. The fact that the pitch is obtained in such large pieces is of advantage for the shipment and its further manipulation, because it will particularly in warm weather, show a lesser tendency to cake. The present invention thus not only affords the advantage of a considerable simplification and cheapening of the work of converting the pitch into a portable form but also of a considerable increase in the value of the final product.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by- Letters Patent of the United States is i 1. The method of disintegrating and lading hard pitch and the like material which consists in laying a chain in a meandering or serpentine line along the bottom of a container, inserting one or more scrapers into the container transversely to its longitudinal extent, running the pitch into the container, allowing it to set, tearing out the chain by mechanical means, whereby the pitch is broken up into pieces, and drawing the aforesaid scrapers by mechanical means toward the discharge end of the container, whereby the broken up pieces are discharged from the container into transports.

2. The method of disintegrating and ladinghard pitch or the like material which consists in laying a chain in a meandering or serpentine line upon the bottom of a container, running the pitch into the container, allowing it to set, tearing out the chain by mechanical means, inserting one or more scrapers into the container transversely to its longitudinal extent, and drawing by mechanical means the scrapers toward the discharge end of the container for discharging the disintegrated pieces of pitch into transports.

3. The method of disintegrating hard pitch and the like material, which consists in placing a chain or the like in serpentine fashion over the bottom of a container in such manner that one end of it protrudes from said container, allowing the pitch to run into said container and set or harden, and tearing said chain from said pitch in a direction substantially in the plane of the bottom of said container, thereby disintegrating said pitch.

4.- The method of disintegrating hard pitch and the like material, which consists in lacing a chain or the like in serpentine fas ion over the bottom of a container in such manner that one end of it protrudes from said container, allowing the pitch to run intdsaid container and set or harden, coupling the protruding end of said chain with mechanical means whereby said chain is torn from said pitch in a direction substantially in the plane of the bottom of said container, thereby disintegrating said pitch.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CARL STILL.

Witnesses:

GUSTAV LAMBnR'rz, HERMANN PETsoH. 

